New Delhi, Dec 31, 2016: Over the years many communities have made India their homeland. To celebrate this diversity the Narendra Modi government is hunting for curators to design and build India’s first museum on the Indian diaspora.

Successive Indian governments have faced huge criticisms from section of diaspora that New Delhi hasn’t appreciated enough their efforts in spreading India’s soft power globally, senior officials told The Telegraph. This museum is an effort to subvert this criticism.

The trials and suffering that generations of Indian emigrants weathered before achieving success in their respective countries will be displayed in here- and even their efforts in keeping alive for centuries, India’s cultural traditions and languages in foreign lands.

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India’s annual jamboree has been selected as the ideal occasion for the announcement of the museum for the diaspora, the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, in Bangalore on January 9.

Indian diaspora is the second largest with 27 million, while China is having around 50 million-strong oversees population. This estimate was last updated by the government earlier this year. The Mexican diaspora – around 14 million, mostly in the US – ranks third in size.

In an era where political leaders on extreme Right are stocking the rising anti-immigrant sentiments in US and Europe. The plan to honor and celebrate the Indian diaspora comes in with a new vigor.

“The museum shall showcase the historical evolution of the diaspora in various parts of the world,” a note on the museum initiative prepared by the ministry of external affairs said. “The museum shall also symbolize various achievements of the diaspora based on their aspirations while maintaining their cultural identity and civilizational ethos in and around the world.”

A newly constructed four-storey building in Chanakyapuri, considered as the capital’s diplomatic enclave is selected as the location for the museum. It will be called Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra. The Kendra was built as a complex of conference halls, restaurants, a banquet hall, lounges and a library. It was formally declared open earlier this year – its construction had started in 2011 under the then Manmohan Singh government.

The museum would be on the first floor of the building, in a wide and open area, with space dedicated to permanent exhibits and to temporary exhibitions. Mahatma Gandhi’s journey as an Indian who lived for years abroad will feature prominently in the museum – as will a depiction of the history of migration of Indians over the past two centuries.

According to the officials the museum will also have a more contemporary edge. It will capture the achievements of persons of Indian origin across the world and the experiences of the Indian diaspora in different countries – including those like Fiji and Uganda from where they once had to flee.

The report also highlighted that India uses the largest amount of groundwater -- 24 per cent of the global total and the country is the third largest exporter of groundwater -- 12 per cent of the global total.

Global groundwater depletion - where the amount of water taken from aquifers exceeds the amount that is restored naturally - increased by 22 per cent between 2000 and 2010, said the report, adding that India's rate of groundwater depletion increased by 23 per cent during the same period. Pixabay

As many as one billion people in India live in areas of physical water scarcity, of which 600 million are in areas of high to extreme water stress, according to a new report.

Globally, close to four billion people live in water-scarce areas, where, for at least part of the year, demand exceeds supply, said the report by non-profit organisation WaterAid.

This number is expected to go up to five billion by 2050, said the report titled “Beneath the Surface: The State of the World’s Water 2019”, released to mark World Water Day on March 22.

Pure water droplet. Pixabay

Physical water scarcity is getting worse, exacerbated by growing demand on water resources and and by climate and population changes.

By 2040 it is predicted that 33 countries are likely to face extremely high water stress – including 15 in the Middle East, most of Northern Africa, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan and Spain. Many – including India, China, Southern Africa, USA and Australia – will face high water stress.

Globally, close to four billion people live in water-scarce areas, where, for at least part of the year, demand exceeds supply, said the report by non-profit organisation WaterAid. Pixabay

Global groundwater depletion – where the amount of water taken from aquifers exceeds the amount that is restored naturally – increased by 22 per cent between 2000 and 2010, said the report, adding that India’s rate of groundwater depletion increased by 23 per cent during the same period.

The report also highlighted that India uses the largest amount of groundwater — 24 per cent of the global total and the country is the third largest exporter of groundwater — 12 per cent of the global total.

The WaterAid report warned that food and clothing imported by wealthy Western countries are making it harder for many poor and marginalised communities to get a daily clean water supply as high-income countries buy products with considerable “water footprints” – the amount of water used in production — from water-scarce countries. (IANS)